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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Union Budget 2017-18: Urgent Need for an Improved Farm Debt Waiver Scheme -Ishan Anand

Union Budget 2017-18: Urgent Need for an Improved Farm Debt Waiver Scheme -Ishan Anand

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published Published on Jan 31, 2017   modified Modified on Jan 31, 2017
-TheWire.in

Despite all the talk of a big push to the agricultural sector, the last Union Budget turned out to be a missed opportunity to provide genuine relief to farmers. The government must rectify this.

The finance minister will be presenting the Union Budget 2017-18 at a time when the agrarian economy is in deep crisis. The farmers of the country have been suffering from a longstanding neglect of the sector, which is a source of livelihood for a majority of the workforce. Making matters worse for the agricultural sector, 2014-15 and 2015-16 turned out to be drought years. The production of food grains fell from an all-time high of 265 million tonnes in 2013-14 to about 252 million tonnes in the next two years. The data provided by the Central Statistical Organisation shows that the average growth in value added (at 2011-12 prices) by agriculture and allied sectors during the three years (2013-14–2015-16) was down to around 1.7%. This is also a period when international prices for major crops, such as paddy, maize and oilseeds, were falling and input prices rising.

The impact of this crisis is also visible in the alarmingly high levels of farmer suicides in the country. Recent media reports suggest that there was a 42% rise in farmer suicides between 2014 and 2015, although many states concealed the number by reporting zero farmer suicides. National Crime Records Bureau statistics reveal that bankruptcy or indebtedness accounted for around 39% of farm suicides in 2015. The statistics from the All India Debt Investment Survey of the NSSO show rising incidence of rural indebtedness from informal sources in the post-liberalisation era. Ignoring all the obvious signs of agrarian distress affecting crores of poor peasants, the government decided to impose a severe cash crunch through demonetisation. Media reports show that demonetisation has wreaked havoc in the lives of farmers as prices have hit rock bottom and farmers are incurring huge losses. The upcoming Union Budget is an opportunity to provide some relief to the reeling peasantry.

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TheWire.in, 30 January, 2017, https://thewire.in/103937/budget-2917-2018-farmer-farm-debt-suicides/


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